Inland Water Safety Improvement with EU Funding

An EU-funded investment of almost HUF 3 billion will improve flood and inland water safety in Hódmezővásárhely, SE Hungary, and its surroundings, and the amount of water that can be retained in the area will also increase thanks to the development.

Deputy Director General of the National Water Directorate, Jenő Lábdy said at the presentation of the project on Thursday that the record-breaking flood of 2006 on the Lower Tisza river showed that the most serious threat is posed by the water structures crossing the embankments.

From a flood protection point of view, one of the most dangerous points in the country is the more than 60-year-old pumping station at nearby Körtvélyes, which will be replaced by a new facility during the project, he said.

Head of the Flood Protection Department of the Lower Tisza Water Management Directorate, Szabolcs Frank added that the Körtvélyes pumping station, which was opened in 1959, is located on the left bank of the Tisza, connecting the Kenyere-ér canal and the waterbody of the Körtvélyes backwater. The canal collects inland water from an area of more than 9,000 hectares, where 43,000 people live. In the last 15 years, inland water protection alert has been declared in the area 27 times, mainly affecting the northern part of the town of Hódmezővásárhely.

There was also serious protection activity at the pumping station during the 1970, 2000 and 2006 Tisza floods, mainly due to the poor quality of the subsoil, he said.

During the project, which was carried out by Kötiviép'B Közép-Tisza Vidéki Vízépítő és Telekommunikációs Ltd., the old pumping station was dismantled and the old concrete pressure pipe was removed from the embankment. A new plant building will be constructed next to the old one, in which pumps with the same capacity of 3.2 cubic meters per second will be installed. High-head penstocks will be built on the embankment, which poses a lower flood risk, a 9-12-meter deep water barrier will be built in the upstream face of the embankment on 230 meters, and the embankment crest will be levelled over 3.6 km, the expert said, explaining the details of the project that is to be completed by November.